Protest against the AfD: These demos are also an imposition

Highlights: Protest against the AfD: These demos are also an imposition. But you don't want to follow Antifa slogans and SPD flags in the long run. The small and large demonstrations in the country are good news, that much is clear to me. People's eyes are opening to what AfD would do if only it could do as it wanted. It was time. It works. Suddenly you can see AfDers struggling like non-swimmers in the deep. They have fantasized about the aura of being unstoppable for so long that they now have a real fear that it could evaporate.

Demonstrating against right-wing extremists is important. But you don't want to follow Antifa slogans and SPD flags in the long run.

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Demonstration against the AfD in Nuremberg

Photo: Moritz Schlenk / IMAGO

I never actually go to political demonstrations; something stops me from doing so, because as a journalist you shouldn't have a party list. I don't believe in the distinction between "as a citizen" and "as a journalist"; after all, I'm not schizophrenic. In addition, we are privileged to be able to express our opinions in other ways, for example here.

I made an exception once, that was for a general pro-Europe demo in March 2017, after the Brexit vote. I was driven by anger at the entire lying band of Tory deceivers. And now we've set off again these days. We watched the demo in a suburb of Berlin. There were around a thousand participants there, at first glance mostly normal people. That would be almost 200,000 participants in Berlin. Not bad then.

But the good cause has its price: the black cloth of Antifa is waving diagonally in front of you. The SPD has brought red flags with them, they can be seen from far away, maybe there is television there. Yogi flyers have come, Fridays for Future anyway, along with sounding singing bowls, colorful rainbows, lots of small children and cardboard signs “Grandmas against the right.” Later, someone from a Turkish community comes to the podium and explains that the reason for the rise of the AfD is the unequal distribution of income and that something must be done about it, never again is now. With all due respect, I really see it differently, what an old leftist nonsense. Nevertheless, you listen to it all, clap here and there, it's for a bigger purpose. But some things are definitely

not in my name.

Am I still liable for it, as it were by virtue of my presence? A little later we leave, the sun is already gone.

So you become part of something for a beautiful moment without even remotely thinking about all of the parts. That's possible, but there's still discomfort because it's unreasonable. I'm suspicious of large crowds anyway.

Just so we understand each other: I don't want to sound like the disinterested suburban middle class, nor do I want to sound like the conservative snob who looks down on people who try their hardest. The small and large demonstrations in the country are good news, that much is clear to me. People's eyes are opening to what the AfD would do if only it could do as it wanted. It was time. It works.

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Suddenly you can see the AfDers struggling like non-swimmers in the deep. They have fantasized about the aura of being unstoppable for so long that they now have a real fear that it could evaporate. So for the first time in months they are on the defensive, and to get back on the offensive they are resorting to the most extreme means. It is spread that the millions of demonstrators were somehow ordered or paid for by the federal government. The journalistic research behind closed doors is said to be “Stasi,” a conspiracy and nefarious campaign against the poor AfD. Oh dear, the fun has only just begun.

Still: Black Antifa puts me in a bad mood just seeing the people. I find singing bowls to be a giggle at best, I would like to see “Grandmas against the Left,” and Fridays for Future are now stuck everywhere. Suddenly you're sitting in the same boat with figures like Ms. Bosetti, Thilo Jung or Ms. Chebli, and Luisa Neubauer is giving another speech on the podium in front of the Reichstag. That may be okay for the moment because it's unavoidable, but seriously: I find it strange. How long can this go on? Wouldn't it be better to remain silent at these demonstrations? Silence like a German forest that just stands there, still and solid, and doesn't budge. Like a vigil. Because that's what it's all about.

Protest against the AfD: These demos are also an imposition

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